The priestly ordination confers a three-fold munera of teaching (munus docendi), sanctifying (munus sanctificandi) and ruling (munus regendi) authority in the life and ministry of the Church. These powers are derived from the priestly ordination and configuration in the priesthood of Christ. However, the rightful exercise of these divine powers demands a special mandate or faculty from the competent ecclesiastical authority which in turn is rooted in hierarchical communion. The diocesan priests have a primary role in the care of souls, and as immediate co-operators and collaborators of the Episcopal order and being incardinated to a particular Church (diocese or…

John Paul II died on Saturday, April 2, 2005, at the end of the vigil Mass of Divine Mercy Sunday, the feast that he himself instituted five years earlier for the universal Church. A few minutes before his death at 9.37 p.m., Rome time, a Mass had been celebrated in the Pope’s private apartments, during which he was given the Holy Viaticum and the Anointing of the Sick. John Paul II had designed the second Sunday in a surprise announcement at the canonization, on April 30, 2000 of Sister Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun who died in Krakow in 1938….

The devotion to divine mercy is the devotion that is centered on the mercy of God. It is the devotion which summarizes Jesus’ teaching on mercy. The whole message of divine mercy is based on Christ who is mercy incarnate. In fact, Blessed Pope John Paul II declares that Christ does not only speak of mercy and explain it by the use of comparisons and parables, but above all he himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He himself, in a certain sense is mercy (Cf. Dives in Misericordia, 3). It is this message of love and mercy that Jesus…

Easter Sunday is the day when Christians all over the world celebrate the rising of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is the celebration of the victory of our redeemer over sin, over Satan, and over death. His resurrection from the dead gives every true Christian an assurance of our own victory since his resurrection challenges us to make determined efforts to rise from our sinful and corrupt life unto holiness. Easter is unarguably the greatest feast in the Christian Calendar. It is usually observed at the end of Lent which is a period of 40 days of prayer, fasting…

OPENING PRAYER God of mercy, you wash away our sins in water, you give us new birth in the Spirit, and redeem us in the blood of Christ. As we celebrate Christ’s resurrection increase our awareness of these blessings, and renew your gift of life within us. FIRST READING A reading from the Acts of the Apostles Acts 2:42-47 Theme: The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common. These (the new converts) remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. The many miracles and signs…

Today’s celebration of Divine Mercy fulfils the request of Christ the Lord through Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska, that the Second Sunday of Easter be reserved to honour and commemorate God’s infinite mercy. This feast was established on April 30, 2000 by Pope John Paul II, who canonized Sister Faustina on that day. How fitting it is that the Pope himself, a great apostle of mercy, will be canonized on this Feast Day of Divine Mercy! Our Christian journey is a story of the infinite mercy of God, without which we are lost, hopeless and helpless. Notwithstanding our unfaithfulness, the Lord…

Pope Francis, in his Easter address before a huge crowd, on Sunday April 20 denounced the “immense wastefulness” in the world while many go hungry and called for an end to Boko Haram atrocities in Nigeria and conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and other parts of Africa. Speaking to a crowd of at least 150,000 in St. Peter’s Square and beyond, he said: “We ask you, Lord Jesus, to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent. “We pray in a particular way for Syria, that all those suffering the effects of the…

A fraudulent and adulterous Pentecostal Pastor who has been having sexual relationship with a mother and her teen-aged daughter has been exposed and arrested. Pastor Wisdom (surname withheld) was picked up by the police Easter weekend and charged with receiving N100,000 from one Mr. Sylvester (surname withheld), a police officer, in order to cure his wife Mrs. Angela, a mother of six, from Ezinihitte Mbaise, of breast cancer. The Pastor due to be granted bail is the owner of a Church located along MCC/Uratta Road in Ebikoro, Umuoba in Owerri North Local Government Area, of Imo State. He is married…

The Catholic Men Organization (CMO) of Maria Assumpta Cathedral Parish Owerri is set for this year’s Father’s Day which holds on Sunday May 4. A Press Release issued by the Chairman, Publicity Sub-Committee, Mr. Emma Uzoka said the activities will feature football matches among the four Stations of the Parish, followed by a two-day seminar (April 28&29) to be moderated by Tony Obasi and Chief Donald Ekenta while a retreat holds on April 30 to be preached by the Administrator, Rev. Fr. Andrew Nkwocha. On Sunday, May 4, the Organization will raise funds for the building of St. Joseph Hall…

Education is the cornerstone to the development of any nation. Its position to national development cannot be overstressed. It is a prerequisite for the achievement of sustainable and significant development in a country. Educationists have an unprejudiced overview of what education is. To them, education is about a desirable change in behaviour. This widely treasured change comes from the acquisition of certain traits overtime. In a bid to achieve a paradigm shift in the country’s educational system, the Federal Government enacted Decree No. 33 of 1979 as amended by Decree No. 5 of 1993, to give legal backing to the…

We are all aware that the country is in a democratic dispensation which is determined by the quality of dividends the people enjoy from government or their elected representatives in the Senate, House of Representatives, the various House of Assembly or Local Governments. It is annoying to see most communities reaping the dividends of democracy and proudly beat their chest saying they have not had it so good in the past with proofs, while some others have nothing to show as the democracy dividends others are talking about. With regards to the Eziobodo autonomous community, a major host community to…

Some of the most concentrated activities of man which wholly occupies his mind and body are falling in love and the pursuance of a vocation. The psychological and physical aspects of being in love transports a human being into a world of its own where every other aspects of living is subsumed into the satisfaction of the whole being in the pursuance of a vocation especially the religious, a man or woman is most times wholly occupied in the demands of the vocation. Human beings are at most times either in love or in pursuit of something which makes them…

Retirees of the Imo State Government owned Newspaper Company (The Statesman) plan to embark on an indefinite massive demonstration to register the deplorable condition in which their members are living as a result of government’s failure to settle their severance pay. They said that the untold hardship and sufferings they have been subjected to have caused the death of some of their colleagues. A notice to this effect was contained in a letter to the Executive Governor of Imo State dated March 10, 2014, titled Re: Notice of a peaceful demonstration by retirees of Imo Newspapers Owerri and signed by…

A three-day Drill Course for members of the Royal Rangers Security Organization (RRSO) has ended at the Bethel Seminary Nekede Owerri, the Imo State capital with the formal inauguration of the Imo/Abia Zone of the outfit. The highlight of the ceremony was the showcasing of their para-military drill skills by three squads of young men and women dressed in the marching uniform (official attire) of the organization. Commander Achebe Gbaminlar, National Commandant of Royal Rangers Nigeria who presided at the occasion took the salute during the march past which attracted a lot of ovations from the numerous crowd of…

More and more members of All Peoples Congress (APC) have continued to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The latest was the defection on April 22 of a foundation member of APC and Governor Okorocha’s Special Adviser on Inter-Party, Hon. Okey Dike from Isu LGA, Imo State. Earlier hundreds of APC members in Umunam Atta Community in Njaba Local Government area of Imo State were recently led back to the PDP by a leader of the APC in the area, Chief John Agbasi. Before then, the APC apex leader in Oru East and former member of the House of…

The clergy, religious and the lay faithful of the Diocese of Orlu on April 17, 2014 converged at the headquarters of the diocese to join the Local Ordinary, Most Rev. Augustine Ukwuoma to celebrate the 2014 Chrism Mass. The celebration featured the blessing of the Chrism oil which all the priests take to their various places of assignment for baptism and anointing of the sick. The priests on this day renew the promises they made during their ordination to remain loyal and supportive to the Chief Shepherd of the diocese. The Catholic Bishop of Orlu, Most Rev. Augustine Ukwuoma during…

Today, two giants of the Roman Catholic faith will become saints and millions of people, including Nigerians have traveled to Rome for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Pope Francis’ decision to declare two of his predecessors, Pope John XXIII and John Paul II saints at the same time is unprecedented and taking the world by storm. The church offers the lives of outstanding women and men to us as models of holiness, declaring them “Blessed” or “Saint”. This is not a statement about perfection. It does not mean that the person was without imperfection or sin. Beatification and canonization mean that a…

Catholic priests have been called upon to continue to embrace holiness of life. The Most Rev. Anthony J.V. Obinna, Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, who made the call while delivering a homily at this year’s Chrism Mass held at the Maria Assumpta Cathedral Owerri, (Thursday,, April 17, 2014), encouraged priests to always adopt holiness of life as they perform the saving mystery on the altar and in other activities of their lives. The Archbishop said that the Chrism Mass recalls the anointing of the Apostles by Christ, the same anointing which the priests of the Church are partaking in. He therefore…

Ukrainian forces killed up to five pro-Moscow separatists in the east of the country, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of “consequences” if Kiev used the army against its own people. Interior Ministry forces backed by the army removed three checkpoints manned by armed groups in the separatist-controlled town of Slaviansk, the ministry said in a statement. “During the armed clash up to five terrorists were eliminated,” it said, adding that one person had been wounded on the side of government forces. Under an international accord signed in Geneva last week, illegal armed groups,…

Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM) Mater Dei Sub-Council Urualla on Friday, April 11, 2014 took their campaign against abortion and other issues that threaten the welfare of the unborn child to National High school and St. Theresa’s Secondary School Ndiawa both in Arondizuogu. In his separate addresses to the staff and students of the two schools, the Grand Knight, Mater Dei Sub-Council Urualla, Bro. Marcel Nwajeri noted that the Knights and Ladies of the Sub-Council were in Arondizuogu to launch a campaign against sex before marriage, abortion, the use of condom and other illicit preventive measures against pregnancy or termination…